The Most Creative Rainy Day Games for Kids
Though no one may want to admit it, unfortunately, summer is coming to a close. As we head into fall, those nice, sunny days will soon be far and few between. Gone will be the days where kids spend all day playing in the sun and in their place will be cold or rainy days spent camping out in front of the TV instead of underneath the stars.
According to guidelines set out by the World Health Organization (WHO), children under the age of 5 need to be more active to grow up healthy. Because of this, it's more important than ever to ensure kids remain active throughout the year, and not just during the summer months.
But what do you do as a parent to ensure your kids remain active? Even if you're stuck inside all day, the best thing to do is to get creative. There are so many fun and inexpensive ways to entertain kids indoors. To kick off your creative thinking, here are a few suggestions from our team at Sitter.com!
Survive a String Maze!
A fun, custom-built maze to teach your kids problem-solving and improve their motor skills.
What You Need:
- A roll of string (or a ball of yarn)
- A roll of tape
- A narrow space (like a hallway, preferably with railings, doors, or drawers)
How to Create it:
Start by unravelling the string and tying it around one end of the railing, taping it to a wall, or looping it around a door or through a drawer.
Using either tape, doors, or drawers, zig-zag the string across your preferred space.
Continue wrapping the string over and under, creating a pattern similar to a cat's cradle.
The finished result will look like a spiders' web that your kids will get to crawl through.
BONUS: For extra creativity, it can be fun to attach toys or items from sections of the string and get your kids to collect them all before they can escape the maze.
Make Shapes with Floor Tape!
The perfect game to test your kid's geometry skills!
What You Need:
- A roll of easy-to-remove floor marking tape
- A selection of toys
- An open space
How to Create it:
Start by giving your child a roll of tape.
Ask them to use the tape to create shapes on the floor (i.e. squares, triangles, circles, etc.).
Once the shapes have been taped, it's time to play!
Make it a game out by calling out shape names and having your kids run to put their toys in it. Depending on how well your child is doing, you can say something "put your teddy bear on the triangle and your puppy dog on the square!" to see how well they can follow instructions.
BONUS: Another fun thing to do is to associate actions with each shape. For example, yell out a shape and have your child stand on it while performing an action (like jumping up and down). You could also have them perform actions while travelling from one shape to the next (like skipping or rolling on the floor).
Bop Around a Balloon!
If you've ever played "Keep It Up!" with a balloon, this is it, but with more balloons!
What You Need:
- A selection of different coloured balloons
- An open space
How to Create it:
Blow up balloons, making sure there are at least three different colours available.
Beginning with one balloon as a warm-up, toss it in the air and work as a team to keep it in the air.
Once you are more comfortable, add in the second and third balloons one at a time and attempt to keep them from touching the floor.
To get the game going, call out the colours of the balloons in order (i.e. red, yellow, blue, etc.). The order of colours that you call out is the order the players have to hit the balloons in.
Feel free to add more balloons or colour combinations to the game as things progress.
The game is considered over if someone hits the wrong coloured balloon out of order or one of the balloons touches the ground.
BONUS: To make things extra difficult, when blowing up the balloons, add small items inside them to make them heavier or more prone to moving differently than other balloons. This extra level of toughness will get everyone's hearts pumping.
Set Up Soup Can Bowling!
Though bowling in and of itself is an indoor sport, it can easily be done inside your home!
What You Need:
- 3 to 10 soup cans of the same size (depending on the way you'd like to play)
- 1 to 4 bed sheets (depending on how long you want the lane to be)
- A ball (size is up to you)
- A long, open space (like a hallway)
How to Create it:
Lay down bedsheets along the floor end-to-end to make a bowling lane. Bed sheets are used to protect your floor from any dents or scratches while playing the game. You can use as many sheets as you'd like. The more sheets you use, the longer the lane will be.
Set up your soup cans about 2 feet away from the end of the last sheet. This is to ensure that once hit, the cans will land on the sheet and not on your floor. Depending on how difficult you want the game to be, you can either stack them in a tower or arrange them like a regular bowling triangle.
Use your ball of choice to roll it down the bedsheet lane and knock over as many cans as you can!
BONUS: To take things to the next level, paint numbers or colours on the soup can and assign points to them. When you knock them down, keep track of the points to declare a winner at the end of the game.
